Bloodworm Carry Parasites?

Interesting that you've read this, Ally.

I fed my beloved goldfish frozen bloodworm, and, on one occasion, he became very gravely ill for approx a week to the point where many would have euthanised (although I didn't) and I put this down exclusively to the bloodworm and what must have been a bad batch. What I can't recall is how often I fed him on bloodworm prior to that; however, although he pulled through after I tried treating him with treatment for bacterial infection, I never fed him on bloodworm again, so severe had that reaction been.

I couldn't bring myself to feed the tropicals frozen foods until very recently ie more than 18 months down the line since getting them. I still feel uneasy doing so, but realise that they are needing more variety in their diet now, judging by seeing poo hanging from them more often. I feed them one block per week, and have been doing so since getting the frozen food ~5 weeks ago. So far, so good - touchwood.

What I do is put the frozen cube in a fishnet, pour an entire kettle of boiling water over it, in the hope that this kills off anything, then rinse it further for quite some time under the cold tap, before emptying the net into the tank.

It probably is quite rare that there is a problem but, because it was quite severe in my case (if indeed the bloodrworm was at fault), I'm extra cautious.

The frozen bloodworm is likely to be safer than the live bloodworm, however, as it has been treated with a view to killing off anything, so that might be the preferable option. Also, if you follow my extra cautious regime, that should hopefully reduce the chances of any problems even further. An alternative option, which I've tried too, is Tetra Delica food - they're gel-based.

My understanding is that live food does have a degree of risk but that frozen food doesn't. The freezing process kills a lot of nasties (maybe not viruses), and the producers of frozen food sometimes irradiate it with gamma rays which would kill anything.

I've not had any problems with the fish catching anything. In the last few years, my main tank has had camallanus worms and import spot (nasty variant of whitespot); neither of these can have come from frozen food as I feed all three tanks from the same pot and the other two were unaffected on both occasions.

Fish food (flakes, pellets) is generally formulated to provide all the nutrients a fish requires. However, sometimes this should be supplemented with additional foods. Check the Fish Profiles section for your fish to see what is says they require. I have generally found that, as fish get older, they become more prone to constipation and require supplementation with other foods such as veg (mainly peas) and, as mentioned, I've recently started putting in a weekly cube of frozen food.

Hi
Not keen on shrimps of any kind , so not wanting my own tank full . I do give him cooked peas once a week which he loves . How often would you give them as the fish gets older ? And how do you know if a fish is constipated ?
I've never seen moonbeam poo ! EVER ?
Allison

Wow
I remember my goldfish as a child having this but thought it was normal . I don't feed moonbeam fish food on a Sunday (pea Sunday ) as I clean out the tank and it s one day without fish food added . Can all fish have peas then ?
Ally

The only problem you may have with frozen food is when it's not transported properly and it defrosts and is then refrozen. Some fish like endlers would still eat bloodworm in that state but bumble bee gobies for example would just spit them back out.

Live food can be contaminated by other life forms, I've found fresh water shrimp, mosquito larva and mayfly larvae at times but these things are almost inevitable as the live food is generally bred in large open tanks. One guy at my fav MA thinks live food is unhygienic and wouldn't dream of feeding it to his own fish.

Personally I'm a bit squeamish about live bloodworms, I have an aerated tank I keep live daphnia in and I'm in the process of ordering brine shrimp eggs to hatch for my croaking gourami fry. Shrimp is almost a bit of a misnomer as they look nothing like 'normal' shrimp. If you've ever heard of sea-monkeys which you buy in kit form in toy shops...they're brine shrimp.

Frozen food all the way for me, I almost exclusively feed my fish on a variety of frozen foods, obvious exceptions are my ottos which eat sinking catfish pellets and get the occasional bit of blanched courgette.